Libyan army destroys 2 vehicles of Haftar militias

By Walid Abdullah

TRIPOLI, Libya (AA) - A Libyan military airstrike on Wednesday destroyed two vehicles transferring more than 10 mercenaries of warlord Khalifa Haftar southwest of the capital Tripoli.

"The Air Force succeeded in destroying two troop carriers with more than 10 Janjaweed mercenaries [Sudanese militia] supporting the Haftar militia in Wadi Marsit," the Libyan government-led Operation Volcano of Rage said in a statement on Facebook.

The airstrike came as a part of operations aiming at cutting supplies to Haftar's militias.

Haftar, the leader of illegal armed forces in eastern Libya, intensified attacks on civilians since the beginning of May as the Libyan army recently gained the advantage and inflicted severe losses on his militants.

The government has been under attack by Haftar's forces since April 2019, with more than 1,000 killed in the violence. It launched Operation Peace Storm on March 26 to counter attacks on the capital.

Following the ouster of late ruler Muammar Gaddafi in 2011, Libya's government was founded in 2015 under a UN-led political deal.

* Writing by Mahmoud Barakat in Ankara